Materials Engineering at UB focuses on the study and fabrication of both soft and hard materials and apply transport phenomena, thermodynamics, and chemical kinetics/reaction engineering, allowing us to take practical and quantitative approaches to materials research not common in chemistry or materials science departments. We focus on nano-technology, advanced polymers, catalysis, colloids, and self-assembly and crystallization phenomena and apply it to fuel production, fabrication of catalysts, drug delivery, oil dispersants (example: 2010 B.P. oil spill), semiconductors, and electronic display advancements.

Computational research at UB CBE encompasses transport phenomena, thermodynamics, and chemical kinetics/reaction engineering, and weaves in aspects of physics, chemistry, and biology. Research activities span quantum mechanics through molecular simulation to continuum mechanics. Research in this area focuses on thermodynamic behavior, fluid dynamics, reaction mechanisms (both biological and chemical), bioinformatics, and modeling devices and systems.

The newly-established Department of Engineering Education seeks to study and implement new strategies for scaling and translation of engineering education research findings into widespread classroom practice.

Johannes Hachmann has been awarded the NSF CAREER award for his project, entitled "Building an Advanced Cyberinfrastructure for the Data-Driven Design of Chemical Systems and the Exploration of Chemical Space".